Illness, Auditions, Girls

Nothing like a bad cold to get you back to the writing-desk.

My prolonged absence from the blogosphere has been due mainly to my impending auditions, and the horrendous amount of practice I need to do before I play before a half-dozen pianist-gods. (No pressure!)

So, during my cold, I was at my sister’s house reading Andre Agassi’s Open, and I find myself wanting to read a fantasy novel in that vein—life story, magic (tennis?) duels, endless dysfunctions, etc. In the meantime, my ambitions of going on a classic-fantasy spree have completely gone out the window—A Wizard of Earthsea still moulders on my dresser, despite my reading the first 10 pages at a friend’s house and enjoying it immensely.

That said, I’d like to move on to how much you can tell about a relationship before it even starts... by sampling Her Books.

The present crisis is over which of the following girls to ask out—the one who suggests C.S. Lewis’ Till We Have Faces, or the one who showed me Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle.

To give a little history, I should probably mention my earlier savage crush on a girl who had me read all of the Twilight Saga (I got burned, bad) or the girl who was all into “hardcore” Christian punk rock (we never went anywhere, let alone out) or the very earnest girl who preferred the Brontë sisters to Jane Austen (???). All fine girls, but all of whom would be deeply unhappy in a relationship with a flamboyant mystic-pianist like myself.

So, while I’ve found the first half of Till We Have Faces quite mesmerizing, it looks like a pretty ominous forecast! I’ve never really been into ancient Greek myths, and TWHF is pretty much a Greek myth, however lovely the retelling. I used to read massive amounts of Lewis when I was younger, but I hadn’t read much of his fiction since That Hideous Strength. (That book was quite a ride, but uncomfortably misogynist for me.)

On the other hand, I adored Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle. It was the film I always wanted to see as a kid, but didn’t get the chance because it wasn’t made until I was in my late teens. It tapped into all my flying obsessions and had a pretty sweet steampunk flair. I’ve been informed that it’s one of Miyazaki’s worst films, but that only makes me want to watch everything else.

Well, now I’ve got two more things to do after auditions: watch everything by Miyzaki and ask out that girl.